Under the title: "EU wants no politics" – yea right! – we learn that the EU Heads of Missions in Sri Lanka have urged the government, all political parties and the LTTE "to actively promote a fair distribution of relief assistance to the victims of the Tsunami disaster, irrespective of their political affiliations, religious and ethnic background."

Apart from the split infinitive (which should, of course, be a capital offence), so far so good, except when we hear the alternative proposal. The Royal Netherlands Embassy, in its capacity as local representative of the EU presidency, has issued a declaration calling, inter alia, for:

…the establishment of an independent and multi-stakeholder monitoring mechanism to review proceedings...